The matador is the illustrious Cayetano Sanz y Pozas (1821–1890), who Manet saw in action during an 1865 trip to Spain—his only visit, despite a longstanding fascination with seventeenth-century Spanish art. This canvas, the first of the full-length figure paintings that Manet completed after studying the works of Velázquez in Madrid, was made upon his return to France. Unlike the artist’s previous depictions of bullfighters, Cayetano Sanz carries a proper red cape. Manet showed the picture, along with some twenty others on Spanish themes, at his solo exhibition in a pavilion adjacent to the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris.
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Title:A Matador
Artist:Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)
Date:1866–67
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:67 3/8 x 44 1/2 in. (171.1 x 113 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:29.100.52
Inscription: Signed (lower left): Manet
the artist, Paris (until 1870; sold, ?September for Fr 1,200 to Duret); Théodore Duret, Paris (1870–94; his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 19, 1894, no. 20, as "Le torrero [sic] saluant," for Fr 10,500 to Durand-Ruel and Faure); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, and Jean-Baptiste Faure owned jointly until Faure sold his half share to Durand-Ruel on December 21, 1898; stock no. 2965, sold on October 25, 1894 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1894–95; stock no. 1223, sold on August 31, 1895 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1895–98; on deposit with Durand-Ruel, New York, August 31, 1895–December 31, 1898 (deposit no. 5350); New York stock no. 2073, sold on December 21 (Paris stock book) or December 31, 1898 (New York stock book) for Fr 20,000 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1898; sold on December 31 for $8,000 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1898–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 144–45, ill.)
Paris. Manet's studio. spring 1866, no catalogue [see Tabarant 1947].
Paris. Avenue de l'Alma. "Tableaux de M. Édouard Manet," May 1867, no. 16 (as "Un matador de taureaux").
Bordeaux. Galerie de la société des amis des arts. "Salon des amis des arts de Bordeaux," 1869, no. 409 (as "La première épée" or "Matador saluant") [see Dussol 1997].
Paris. École Nationale des Beaux-Arts. "Exposition des œuvres de Édouard Manet," January 6–28, 1884, no. 34 (as "Le matador saluant," lent by Théodore Duret).
New York. Durand-Ruel. "Paintings by Édouard Manet," 1895, no. 24 [see Sterling and Salinger 1967].
Buffalo Society of Artists. "Fifth Annual Exhibition," 1896, no. 56 [see Wilson-Bareau 2002].
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "Second Annual Exhibition," November 4, 1897–January 1, 1898, no. 139 (as "Torrero [sic] saluant").
Boston. Copley Hall and Allston Hall. "Loan Exhibition of Pictures by Modern Artists," March 7–28, 1898, no. 58 (lent by Durand-Ruel) [see Wilson-Bareau 2002].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 78 (as "Torero Saluting") [2nd ed., 1958, no. 160].
Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Museum of Art. "Manet and Renoir," November 29, 1933–January 1, 1934, no catalogue [see Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin 29 (December 1933), p. 17].
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Manet to Matisse," May 27–June 26, 1949, no. 16.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 2–28, 1951, no catalogue.
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 14–December 12, 1951, no catalogue.
City Art Museum of St. Louis. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 6–February 4, 1952, no catalogue.
Seattle Art Museum. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 1–June 30, 1952, no catalogue.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 77).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet, 1832–1883," September 10–November 27, 1983, no. 92.
Yokohama Museum of Art. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century," March 25–June 4, 1989, no. 88.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A348.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Manet/Velázquez: La manière espagnole au XIXe siècle," September 16, 2002–January 12, 2003, no. 94.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting," March 4–June 29, 2003, no. 149.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 59.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Picasso et les Maîtres," October 8, 2008–February 2, 2009, unnumbered cat. (p. 193; as "Matador saluant").
Emile Vallet. Courrier de la gironde (1869) [reprinted in Dominique Dussol, "Art et bourgeoisie: La Société des amis des arts de Bordeaux (1851–1939)," Bordeaux, 1997, pp. 225, 229], remarks that the defects of this work are its size and its ambition, when it is merely a study.
Théodore Duret. Letter to Édouard Manet. September 16, 1870 [published in A. Tabarant, "Manet et ses œuvres," Paris, 1947, p. 183], notes that he bought it from Manet for Fr 1,200, which he has not paid yet.
Edouard Manet. Letter to Théodore Duret. [September?] 1870 [published in Robert Rey, "Manet," New York, 1938, p. 21], discusses the purchase price.
Edouard Manet. Letter to Théodore Duret. March 6, 1871 [published in Robert Rey, "Manet," New York, 1938, p. 21], requests that Duret send him money, probably payment for this picture.
Edouard Manet. Letter to Théodore Duret. August 22, 1871 [published in Robert Rey, "Manet," New York, 1938, p. 21], acknowledges receipt of Fr 700 sent by Duret as partial payment for this picture.
Théodore Duret. Letter to Édouard Manet. July 1871 [published in A. Tabarant, "Manet, histoire catalographique," Paris, 1931, p. 153], apologizes for not having paid for it yet, noting that he will give Manet the money upon his return from his travels.
Edmond Bazire. Manet. Paris, 1884, pp. 21, 139, ill. (engraving by Guérard), suggests that it is a portrait of Manet's brother Gustave.
Louis Gonse. "Manet." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 29 (February 1884), p. 142, dates it 1866.
Joséphin Péladan. "Le procédé de Manet d'après l'exposition de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts." L'artiste 1 (February 1884), p. 110.
Julie Manet. Journal (1893–1899). March 19, 1894 [published in Julie Manet, "Journal (1893–1899), sa jeunesse parmi les peintres impressionnistes et les hommes de lettres," preface by Jean Griot, Paris, 1979, p. 30], notes that it did not bring a very high price at the sale of the Duret collection.
Théodore Duret. Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son œuvre. Paris, 1902, pp. 179, 212, no. 78, suggests that it depicts the moment where the toreador is asking for permission to kill the bull.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manuscrit de l'œuvre d'Édouard Manet, peinture et pastels. [1906], unpaginated, no. 78 [Département des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris], calls it "Un matador de taureaux" and mistakenly states that it was no. 24 in the sale of the Duret collection.
Emil Waldmann. "Französische Bilder in Amerikanischem Privatbesitz, Part 1." Kunst und Künstler 9 (November 1910), p. 93, ill.
Emil Waldmann. "Französische Bilder in amerikanischem Privatbesitz II." Kunst und Künstler 9 (December 1910), p. 134.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Édouard Manet. Munich, 1912, pp. 153–54 n. 1, 316, fig. 72, notes that it is not clear whether it was conceived before or after Manet's trip to Madrid; provides ex-collection information.
Théodore Duret. Manet and the French Impressionists. 2nd ed. [1st ed. 1910]. London, 1912, p. 227, no. 78.
Emil Waldmann. Édouard Manet. Berlin, 1923, pp. 32, 39, 46, ill., dates it about 1865–66.
J.-E. Blanche. Manet. London, 1925, p. 42, includes it in a list of works produced between 1867 and 1870.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manet raconté par lui-même. Paris, 1926, vol. 1, pp. 76, 137, fig. 76; vol. 2, 128, no. 34, fig. 342, dates it about 1865 and agrees that the model is Manet's brother Eugène; publishes a photograph of it in the 1884 Paris exhibition.
A. Tabarant. "Autour de Manet." L'art vivant 4 (May 4, 1928), p. 349.
Patrick Hoyan. "La collection Havemeyer au Metropolitan Museum." Beaux-arts, chronique des arts et de la curiosité 7 (January 1929), pp. 1, 6, ill.
A. Tabarant. "Les Manet de la collection Havemeyer." La Renaissance 13 (February 1930), pp. 61, 69, ill., dates it 1866, but notes that it is usually dated 1867; affirms that Eugène Manet posed for it; provides ex-collection information.
A. Tabarant. Manet, histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931, pp. 152–54, no. 113, notes that it was painted in Manet's studio on the rue Guyot in 1866 and that his brother Eugène posed for it.
Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. Paris, 1932, vol. 1, pp. 131–32, no. 124; vol. 2, fig. 44, note that this picture was signed after the artist's death and list it with works from 1866.
Paul Colin. Édouard Manet. Paris, 1932, p. 74.
J. Meier-Graefe. "The Manet Centenary." Formes no. 24 (April 1932), ill., dates it 1865.
E. Lambert. "Manet et l'Espagne." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 9 (June 1933), p. 375, notes the Spanish influence in this work and agrees that his brother Eugène posed for it.
Gotthard Jedlicka. Édouard Manet. Zürich, 1941, pp. 85, 104, 397 n. 7, remarks that this work could be a result of Manet's trip to Spain in 1865.
A. Tabarant. Manet et ses œuvres. 4th ed. (1st. ed. 1942). Paris, 1947, pp. 121, 124, 137, 491, 512, 536, no. 121, fig. 121, states that this picture was signed by Manet during his lifetime [see Ref. Jamot and Wildenstein 1932] and was painted in 1866 in the studio on the rue Guyot, where it was exhibited the same year.
Michel Florisoone. Manet. Monaco, 1947, p. XXI, erroneously dates it 1860.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 63.
George Heard Hamilton. Manet and His Critics. New Haven, 1954, p. 155.
Georges Bataille. Manet: Biographical and Critical Study. New York, 1955, pp. 10, 47, ill. (color).
Henri Perruchot. La vie de Manet. Paris, 1959, pp. 188, 213.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 223–24, calls it "El Espada".
Denis Rouart. Letter to Margaretta M. Salinger. May 9, 1961 [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967], states that neither of Manet's brothers posed for this picture.
A. Tabarant. La Vie artistique au temps de Baudelaire. 2nd ed. (1st ed. 1942). [Paris], 1963, p. 376.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 43–44, ill., date it 1866, noting that it was painted a year after Manet's return from his trip to Spain; remark that it shows the direct influence of Velázquez in the tone of the transparent ground.
Joel Isaacson. "The Early Paintings of Claude Monet." PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1967, p. 311 n. 11, p. 313 n. 22.
Sandra Orienti inThe Complete Paintings of Manet. New York, 1967, p. 96, no. 102, ill.
Margaretta M. Salinger. "Windows Open to Nature." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27 (Summer 1968), unpaginated, ill.
Merete Bodelsen. "Early Impressionist Sales 1874–94 in the Light of some Unpublished 'procès verbaux'." Burlington Magazine 110 (June 1968), pp. 341, 345.
Anthea Callen. "Jean-Baptiste Faure, 1830–1914: A Study of a Patron and Collector of the Impressionists and their Contemporaries." Master's thesis, University of Leicester, 1971, pp. 249–50, no. 371, states that Duret paid Manet Fr 2,000 for this picture in 1870 [but see Refs. Manet 1870 and Duret 1870].
Anthea Callen. "Faure and Manet." Gazette des beaux-arts 83 (March 1974), pp. 171, 178 nn. 93–94, provides provenance information.
Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein. Édouard Manet, catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1975, vol. 1, pp. 5, 18, 25, 108–9, no. 111, ill.
Paul Abe Isaacs. "The Immobility of the Self in the Art of Edouard Manet: A Study with Special Emphasis on the Relationship of his Imagery to That of Gustave Flaubert and Stephane Mallarmé." PhD diss., Brown University, 1977, pp. 238, 240, fig. III-22.
François Duret-Robert in Maurice Sérullaz. "The Verdict of the Salerooms." Phaidon Encyclopedia of Impressionism. English ed. [French ed., 1974]. Oxford, 1978, p. 249.
Marc Saul Gerstein. "Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Fans." PhD diss., Harvard University, 1978, p. 48, notes that Manet used this motif in a fan fragment painted in about 1866, "Toréador saluant" (RW319) and that the same figure reappeared in 1879 on one of the small side panels of a tambourine (RW320).
Charles S. Moffett inManet, 1832–1883. Ed. Françoise Cachin and Charles S. Moffett. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 240–43, no. 92, ill. (color, overall and detail) [French ed., Paris], dates it 1866 or 1867, leaning more toward a later date based on the omission of this work from all of the reviews of the exhibition that Manet held in his studio in 1866; agrees with the Duret sale catalogue [see 1894] that the model is a member of a troupe of Spanish dancers who performed in Paris during the Exposition Universelle of 1867; notes that the pose of the matador is similar to that of the figure at the left in "La Posada" (RW110), but comments that it is impossible to know if there is a direct connection between the two figures.
Pierre Daix. La vie de peintre d'Édouard Manet. Paris, 1983, pp. 150–51.
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 102, 128–29, 255, fig. 81, describes how Mrs. Havemeyer bought this picture from Durand-Ruel for her husband.
Maureen C. O'Brien in Maureen C. O'Brien. In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum. Southampton, N.Y., 1986, p. 162 n. 6, calls it "Majo Saluting".
Kathleen Adler. Manet. Oxford, 1986, p. 181, comments that in the 1860s the theme of death and the modern hero occupied Manet in several paintings, including this one.
Anne Distel. Impressionism: The First Collectors. New York, 1990, pp. 58, 241, colorpl. 39.
Éric Darragon. Manet. Paris, 1991, pp. 377, 392, colorpl. 85.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 223–24, 307–8 n. 10, p. 333 n. 321.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 218, 224, pl. 212.
Gary Tinterow inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 27, 30, 53 n. 68.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 352–53, no. A348, ill.
James H. Rubin. Manet's Silence and the Poetics of Bouquets. Cambridge, Mass., 1994, p. 72.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 444, ill.
Beth Archer Brombert. Édouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat. Boston, 1996, p. 305.
Dominique Dussol. Art et bourgeoisie: La société des amis des arts de Bordeaux (1851–1939). Bordeaux, 1997, pp. 218–19, 229, 267, ill. (color, overall and detail), includes it as no. 409, "La première épée," in the Salon of 1869 of the Société des amis des arts de Bordeaux.
Fred Licht. Manet. Milan, 1998, p. 55, fig. 32.
Carol Armstrong. Manet Manette. New Haven, 2002, pp. 11, 15, 28, 102–3, 344 n. 4, no. 16, figs. 16 and 49, suggests that Manet combines here the features of his brother Eugène and a dancer from a Spanish troupe who visited Paris during the Universal Exposition of 1867.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau in Gary Tinterow and Geneviève Lacambre. Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. New York, 2003, pp. 233, 236, 496, 498, no. 149, fig. 9.55 (color and black and white) [French ed., "Manet/Velázquez: La manière espagnole au XIXe siècle," Paris, 2002, pp. 201, 386, 388, no. 94, fig. 109 (color)], dates it 1866–67; remarks that this is probably one of the first lifesize figures that Manet painted on his return from Spain; discusses the identity of the sitter, suggesting that Eugène or another model posed in the matador's costume, and that the head was taken from one of the carde-de-visite photographs that portrayed famous bullfighters.
H. Barbara Weinberg in Gary Tinterow and Geneviève Lacambre. Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. New York, 2003, p. 283.
Trevor Fairbrother in Gary Tinterow and Geneviève Lacambre. Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. New York, 2003, pp. 521–22, 541.
Manuela B. Mena Marqués inManet en el Prado. Ed. Manuela B. Mena Marqués. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2003, pp. 190, 225, 443, 455.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau inManet en el Prado. Ed. Manuela B. Mena Marqués. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2003, pp. 54, 63 n. 103, pp. 387, 393 n. 103, suggests that the figure is either saluting the president, the person who presides over the bullfight in his box, or dedicating the bull that he will kill to a lady.
Gudrun Mühle-Maurer inManet en el Prado. Ed. Manuela B. Mena Marqués. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, 2003, pp. 67, 71–72, 79, 82 n. 49, pp. 354, 396, 400, 401 n. 49, p. 496, fig. 22 (color), dates it 1866–67 in the caption but lists it as being executed in 1865 in the chronology; suggests that the figure has the characteristic traits of the famous bullfighter Cayetano Sanz who Manet saw in a bullfight on Sunday, September 3, 1865 in Madrid; continues that the matador in the painting wears a suit that corresponds to the one worn by Cayetano in the print by R. Rojas (fig. 25), that was apparently designed by the matador himself to minimize the risk of injury.
Gilles Néret. Edouard Manet, 1832–1883: Le premier des modernes. Cologne, 2003, ill. p. 39 (color).
Ross King. The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism. New York, 2006, p. 164, calls it "The Saluting Torero" and dates it autumn 1865.
Xavier Bray inInspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past. Ed. Ann Dumas. Exh. cat., High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Denver, 2007, p. 123, calls it "The Saluting Torero" and dates it 1865; notes that it was based on a pencil sketch made at a bullfight.
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 86–87, 229–30, no. 59, ill. (color and black and white) and fig. 16 (installation photo, color).
Simon Kelly inManet, inventeur du Moderne. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2011, p. 59.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Genevieve Westerby inManet Paintings and Works on Paper at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Genevieve Westerby. Chicago, 2019, under nos. 10–11 [https://publications.artic.edu/manet/reader/manetart/section/140038].
This picture was painted shortly after Manet's trip to Spain in 1865. It has been suggested that one of Manet's brothers, Eugène or Gustave, posed for it, but the catalogue of the Théodore Duret sale of 1894 proposes that Manet used a model from a troupe of Spanish dancers and toreadors that performed in Paris during the 1867 Universal Exposition. In more recent literature (see Mühle-Maurer 2003) the matador has been identified as the famous Spanish toreador Cayetano Sanz whom Manet saw in a bullfight during his trip to Spain.
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